Party leader Pere Aragonès calls for “a 100% renewable, KMZero, democratic and oligopoly-free energy model” compared to the “centralized concentrated model of the Ibex-35 corporations”

“Today, a vote for Esquerra Republicana is a guarantee of commitment to attain a 100% renewables, KMZero, democratic and oligopoly-free energy model for Catalonia.” With these words, Esquerra’s candidate for the presidency in the forthcoming elections, Pere Aragonès explained the party’s proposals on ecological transition on Thursday at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia-UPC.

Mr Aragonés reiterated his commitment to establishing a Ministry for Climate Action that will ensure that “the fight against climate change is present in all policy” to be promoted by the next government. This ministry will take on challenges such as water and waste management, energy policy, circular economy management and biodiversity, he explained. “The government of the best –a wry reference to the government of 2010-2016 led by conservative Artur Mas– suppressed it and it must now be recovered with full force,” he said.

The Esquerra Republicana candidate also announced that if he is elected president, he will promote a broad National Pact for the Ecological Transition involving parties, civil society, businesses, citizens and unions, in order to attain 100% renewables by 2050. “A pact which should help us switch from the centralized, concentrated model of the Ibex-35 –referring to the major corporations listed on the Madrid exchange– to our own decentralized, competitive model,” explained Mr Aragonès, who defended a commitment to “diversified investments that no longer transform the territory but that protect the landscape and nature taking advantage of the potential of what we have already transformed.”

Esquerra’s candidate stressed that on February 14 the citizens of Catalonia will have to choose between those who see the ecological transition as “an opportunity to democratize the economy and energy generation,” and those who see it “as an opportunity to perpetuate the same old oversized oligopolies.”

Former minster Raül Romeva also took part in the event, highlighting Esquerra Republicana’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations. “In 2017 we began to draft the National Plan for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Catalonia, and the government plan has had its guiding principles set by the SDGs during the outgoing parliament,” he stressed. Mr Romeva praised that, in drawing up the budget by his Department of the Economy, Pere Aragonès turned these objectives “into measurable, evaluable milestones, which is the way to move from rhetoric to practice and credibility.” “Milestones to measure our progress as a society towards more humane, fairer, more ethical, more sustainable and more resilient development,” he added.

In this regard, MEP Diana Riba emphasized that Esquerra “means to place environmental requirements and the defence of the territory at the centre of our political action.” “It is usually we who guarantee that this fight should come to fruition,” she said, pointing to the key role of Esquerra in drafting the Climate Change Bill and in approving the establishment of the Catalan Nature Agency, as well as in “pushing the application of the renewables decree to its limits.”